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Russia’s “Crime-as-a-service” Exposed – Just Look At What You Can Buy

Fancy buying yourself a complete botnet to fool around with? Or maybe you’d just like to borrow someone else’s for a couple of hours? Or alternatively, thrash out a million spam emails carrying the message of your choice? Or perhaps spying is more your thing, in which case, being able to access someone’s emails, text messages and social media accounts might interest you?

All this and more can be purchased at fire sale prices in Russia’s underground web community…

So long as you can read and write Russian (or possibly just use Google Translate), you can buy at least twenty different kinds of services through Russia’s favorite hacker forums. Products range from the aforementioned botnets and spying services, to crime-friendly VPN software checking services, and off-the-shelf exploits.

The kinds of services available to buy are detailed in an extensive new report out by Trend Micro. Most of them are nothing new for sure, but what really surprises is the widespread availability and inexpensiveness of the services on offer.

By far and away the most popular ‘products’ on offer are programming services – essentially, malware creation, closely followed by the sale of popular off-the-shelf malware programs such spammers, Trojans, DDoS bots, SpyEye and Zeus.

Here’s a full run down of the ‘services’ that TrendMicro found online, courtesy of Wired.co.uk:

Apparently, the costs can vary quite a bit for programming services, depending on the nature of what you requested. For example, a Trojan that steals information from banking and/or commerce websites could cost in the region of $1,300, whilst cheap and cheerful fake programs go for as little as $15 to $20.

According to TrendMicro, spamming and botnets make a good, cheap entry into the businesses for wannabe cybercriminals, but these are unlikely to deliver such good profits. In order to really cash in on cybercrime’s lucrative side, you’ll need to shell out a fairly large sum for zero-day development services.

As Ferguson explains:

“If I want to find out how to break into cybercrime – excuse the terrible pun – I can rent a botnet [for example], now buy myself a BlackHole exploit kit, and infect [victims] with my own custom Trojan from this other vendor … it’s like a jigsaw puzzle.”

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About Mike Wheatley

Mike Wheatley is a senior staff writer at SiliconANGLE. He loves to write about Big Data and the Internet of Things, and explore how these technologies are evolving and helping businesses to become more agile.
Before joining SiliconANGLE, Mike was an editor at Argophilia Travel News, an occassional contributer to The Epoch Times, and has also dabbled in SEO and social media marketing. He usually bases himself in Bangkok, Thailand, though he can often be found roaming through the jungles or chilling on a beach.
Got a news story or tip? Email Mike@SiliconANGLE.com.